Wednesday 3 April 2013

Shrimp Peeling At The Fish Market, Mumbai

Don't quit your day job. Or any job, for that matter. At the Sassoon fishing pier, the worst job is reserved for mostly young women, the task of peeling shrimp. It looks like a bad Kafka vignette: piles and piles of shrimp dumped at your feet, you on a tiny stool peeling and peeling and peeling.

You make a little progress and more shrimp come. The only way to get through the day is knowing it's not a whole day; seafood comes in early morning and is gone in a matter of hours.

The fishing boat docks and the heaps of shrimp start to come onto the pier.


Ladies, start your fingers, let the peeling begin. And keep going. Ugh.


Beauty under the most trying circumstances, something common and uplifting in India. These women are relegated to tiny stools, but still manage to come dressed in fabulous frocks and blingy bangles -impressive.

Another look at the tough task and an example of a typical lovely young woman doing the peeling.

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